Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

By June 30 of each year, a Council-appointed bottomfish monitoring team will prepare an annualreport on the fishery by area covering the following topics: fishery performance data; summaryof recent research and survey results; habitat conditions and recent alterations; enforcementactivities and problems; administrative actions (e.g., data collection and reporting, permits); andstate and territorial management actions. Indications of potential problems warranting furtherinvestigation may be signaled by the following indicator criteria: mean size of the catch of anyspecies in any area is a pre-reproductive size; ratio of fishing mortality to natural mortality forany species; harvest capacity of the existing fleet and/or annual landings exceed best estimate ofMSY in any area; significant decline (50 percent or more) in bottomfish catch per unit of effortfrom baseline levels; substantial decline in ex-vessel revenue relative to baseline levels;significant shift in the relative proportions of gear in any one area; significant change in thefrozen/fresh components of the bottomfish catch; entry/exit of fishermen in any area; per-tripcosts for bottomfishing exceed per-trip revenues for a significant percentage of trips; significantdecline or increase in total bottomfish landings in any area; change in species composition of thebottomfish catch in any area; research results; habitat degradation or environmental problems;and reported interactions between bottomfish fishing operations and protected species.The team may present management recommendations to the Council at any time.Recommendations may cover actions suggested for federal regulations, state/territorial action,enforcement or administrative elements, and research and data collection. Recommendations willinclude an assessment of urgency and the effects of not taking action. The Council will evaluatethe team’s reports and recommendations, and the indicators of concern. The Council will assessthe need for one or more of the following types of management action: catch limits, size limits,closures, effort limitations, access limitations, or other measures. The Council may recommendmanagement action by either the state/territorial governments or by federal regulation.If the Council believes that management action should be considered, it will make specificrecommendations to the NMFS Regional Administrator after requesting and considering theviews of its Scientific and Statistical Committee and Bottomfish Advisory Panel and obtainingpublic comments at a public hearing. The Regional Administrator will consider the Council’srecommendation and accompanying data, and, if he or she concurs with the Council’srecommendation, will propose regulations to carry out the action. If the Regional Administratorrejects the Council’s proposed action, a written explanation for the denial will be provided to theCouncil within two weeks of the decision. The Council may appeal denial by writing to theAssistant Administrator, who must respond in writing within 30 days.5.3.6 Bycatch MeasuresAs described in Chapter 4, bycatch in Hawaii’s bottomfish fisheries differs between the twoseparately managed fisheries: a strictly commercial fishery in the NWHI and a mixed,commercial, subsistence and recreational fishery in the MHI. The commercial fleet in the NWHIuses bottomfish gear types and fishing strategies that are highly selective for desired species andsizes while MHI fishery participants tend to be less selective and generally keep every fishcaught. Federal regulatory measures in place to reduce bycatch include prohibitions on the use ofnon-selective fishing methods including bottom trawls, bottom gillnets, explosive and poisons.142